The internet is full of CV advice.
Most of these recommendations are not wrong. The problem starts when they are applied blindly, without considering your experience level, industry, or hiring context.
1. “Keep Your Resume to One Page”
This is probably one of the most common pieces of CV advice.
The reasoning is simple: recruiters have limited time and often spend only a few seconds scanning a resume before deciding whether it deserves a closer look.
There is truth in this.
However, many people misunderstand what this means.
Recruiters may spend only a few seconds on the initial scan, but if they find your profile relevant, they often want to know more. A senior professional with years of experience, multiple employers, certifications, projects, and achievements may struggle to present their full value on a single page.
Compressing ten or fifteen years of experience into one page can sometimes reduce the perceived depth of your expertise.
Different recruiters also have different preferences. Some prefer concise resumes. Others appreciate detailed CVs that provide context and evidence. A well-structured detailed CV can even signal thoroughness and attention to detail.
The real goal is not to make your CV as short as possible. The goal is to make it easy to scan.
A practical approach is to maintain two versions:
- A single page resume for situations where brevity matters.
- A detailed CV for applications where more context is valuable.
The secret is not having a one-page CV. The secret is presenting enough information while making it easy to review quickly.
2. “Always Focus on Outcomes, Not Tasks”
Modern CV advice often encourages candidates to describe achievements rather than tasks.
Examples:
- Increased revenue by 20%.
- Reduced costs by 15%.
- Improved customer retention by 30%.
These statements can be powerful because they demonstrate measurable impact.
The problem arises when people try to force every bullet point into this format.
Not every contribution can be measured accurately. Not every role tracks outcomes in a way that can be quantified. Sometimes people simply do not have access to those numbers.
In many cases, recruiters genuinely want to know what work you performed, what systems you managed, what technologies you used, or what responsibilities you handled.
If a measurable achievement exists and adds meaningful context, include it.
If it doesn’t, there is nothing wrong with clearly describing the work itself.
3. “Customize Your CV for Every Job”
This advice is generally well-intentioned.
Today, numerous AI tools can rewrite a CV to match a job description almost perfectly. They can insert keywords, mirror the employer’s language, and optimize the document for automated screening systems.
The result may score highly against keyword-based evaluation.
However, there is a risk.
When a CV appears heavily rewritten around a specific job advertisement, any recruiter can often tell. The language suddenly changes. Keywords from the advertisement appear everywhere.
This can create the impression that the candidate is trying to become whatever the employer wants to see or trying to trick them.
Instead of customizing your CV for every individual vacancy, focus on building a clear professional identity.
If you are a software engineer, project manager, quality assurance specialist, or systems administrator, your CV should consistently communicate that professional story.
Tailor your CV to your target role, not necessarily to every job advertisement.
Authenticity is often more persuasive than perfect keyword matching.
4. “Make Sure Your CV Is ATS-Friendly”
This may be one of the most misunderstood topics in recruitment today.
Many CV writing services market ATS optimization as if every application is automatically rejected by software before a human ever sees it.
To understand why this claim is often exaggerated, it helps to understand what an ATS actually is.
An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is primarily a tool used to organize applications. It helps recruiters manage candidates, track hiring stages, search records, and collaborate with hiring teams.
Some ATS platforms include AI-powered screening features. Many do not.
And even when AI recommendations exist, they are usually intended to assist recruiters rather than replace them.
In Sri Lanka, many companies still rely heavily on email-based recruitment processes. The local hiring market is also smaller than the large multinational environments that may receive thousands of applications for a single vacancy.
As a result, human review remains a major part of hiring.
Our observations suggest that AI recommendations often function as optional guidance rather than final decision-making tools. Recruiters and hiring managers still make the hiring decisions, and those decisions frequently involve considerations that are difficult to capture in software. Emotions, desires, fears and biases that are unspoken and undocumented still drives the hiring decisions.
Modern systems are also far more capable than older technologies. Today’s tools can usually extract information from reasonably designed CVs without requiring candidates to obsess over keyword placement and formatting tricks.
This does not mean ATS considerations are irrelevant.
It simply means the risk is often overstated.
Instead of chasing ATS hacks, focus on creating a clean, professional document with clear headings, logical structure, and readable formatting.
For most candidates, that is more than enough.
Final Thoughts
Most CV advice exists for a reason.
The problem is not the advice itself. The problem is treating every recommendation as a universal rule.
Your CV should communicate your professional story clearly and honestly.
When advice helps you do that, use it.
A multifaceted professional known for diverse interests and contributions in various fields, including management, technology, education and entrepreneurship. Also the founder of ITPro.lk, bringing a unique perspective and industry knowledge to writing.
